Hairy Live Rock???

[virginia reef]

I am about to set up a 90g reef tank. I currently have 90 lb of fully cured LR in a 55g tank with skimmer and power heads. Nothing else is in the tank. I have an opportunity to pick up 50 lb of LR from a friend. The problem is he has a major algae problem (hair algae). I will use DI water and 90 lb of live sand (aragonite). Lighting is 2x175w MH (10,000k) plus 2x65w PC actinic (7,100k). Will also have a couple dozen hermits and snails as well as a few other cleanup types.
If silicates, phosphates, and nitrates are maintained at minimal levels, will the algae tend to die off (or be eaten by the cleanup guys)? Or will I just be inheriting a problem? I can keep the hairy LR by itself in the 55g tank under minimal (45w) fluorescent lighting (after I move everything else to the 90g) until the algae disappears.

 

[byrself]

i would definately keep the algae rock =) in another tank if you can, and try to manually remove as much hair algae as you can. keep lighting to a minimum as you mentioned, and let the hermits and/or snails (emerald crabs are good too)combat the algae. you'd be suprised how fast a crew of hermits can clean your rocks. putting the algae in your other tank will only complicate things, so i think this would be your best bet. using the better water (ro) will help keep it down, and also after the cycling process you should see a reduction in nuisance algae. just my thoughts!